The offense did just enough to support a stellar pitching performance from Kyle Bradish and the O’s bullpen.
Kyle Bradish continued his recent run of form, the offense did just enough, and the bullpen was lights out as the Orioles beat the Angels 3-1 on Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
This was Bradish’s best start of the season. His slider was stellar, as it normally is. While it didn’t getting the rate of whiffs (30%) it usually does (~43%), the simple fact that he has the offering is a weapon. And for the first time this year he did not issue any walks.
Over 6.2 innings, Bradish allowed one run on four hits and five strikeouts. The one run was a solo homer off the bat of Mike Trout. There’s no shame it that. But it almost didn’t happen. Trout’s long fly ball was hit to right-center field, and there was plenty of time for Cedric Mullins to reach the wall and attempt to bring it back in the park, but it wound up just beyond his reach.
The Angels didn’t threaten to score any other time against Bradish. He faced the minimum three batters in four of the six full innings he pitched, and the other three hits he allowed were all singles.
It must have felt good for Bradish, a former Angels draft pick and minor leaguer, to dominate his former organization. At this point, he has been part of the Orioles organization for far longer than he was with the Angels, but that doesn’t mean you fully extinguish the “they gave up on me” flame that exists deep down.
More importantly for the Orioles, they need someone like Bradish to step up and provide the team with another dependable internal arm. The team’s rotation is solid, better than it has been in years, but it still needs to find another level to compete deep into the postseason. Perhaps he can be that option.
The Orioles offense was busy on this night, but ultimately not very productive. They collected 11 hits and walked twice. But they went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
They broke through in the third inning. Mullins led off with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground ball through the left side of the infield from Ryan Mountcastle.
Their lead doubled in the fourth inning. Terrin Vavra reached base on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and then sprinted home on a Mullins base hit to right field.
And they completed their trio of runs with a one-run dong from Austin Hays in the fifth inning to give us our 3-1 scoreline.
The bullpen had itself another impressive night. Danny Coulombe got out of Bradish’s mini jam to wrap up the seventh inning. Yennier Cano was, of course, perfect in the eighth. And then Félix Bautista worked around a walk of Trout to record his 11th save of the season.
The only other stat line that stood out was Gunnar Henderson. He had two more hits, raising his batting average to .195 and OPS to .718. The rookie just might be figuring things out!
This series has one more game in it, an afternoon finale on Thursday that starts at 12:35. It’s a battle of Tylers (my favorite kind!). Wells (3-1, 2.68 ERA) goes for the O’s. Anderson (1-0, 5.26 ERA) toes the rubber for the Angels.